


Not A Zoo, But Close Enough

by Teal_Rainbeau



Series: The Village It Takes [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute Kids, Fandom Feedback, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Just Add Kittens, Lance (Voltron) is Good With Kids, Single Parent Lance (Voltron), Supportive Coran (Voltron), Uncle Coran (Voltron), Voltron Lions as Cats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25722859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_Rainbeau/pseuds/Teal_Rainbeau
Summary: On the way to Coran's ranch, Ava finds a box of something unexpectedly wonderful. But how will Lance be able to accept this new blessing in the proper way?
Relationships: Coran & Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) & Original Child Character(s)
Series: The Village It Takes [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535177
Comments: 11
Kudos: 4





	Not A Zoo, But Close Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cholgamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cholgamer/gifts).



> To cholgamer, for your support and to say thank you for as much enthusiasm that you have reading this series as I have writing it. I hope you enjoy ♡

“I like being on farms, the animals are sooo cute!” Ava exaggerated with a self-embrace.

Lance wanted to take her to the zoo but running out of gas on the way up there was not in his list of plans. Plus, he had asked for enough advances on his monthly pay while working last year. The downside of working for city tourism…

“You wanna see a really big cow? She’s, like, bigger than most grown-ups!”

“No way! What’s her name?”

“Kaltenecker.”

Ava wrinkled her nose and tried to pronounce the word, concocting “Count Necker” instead.

Lance huffed a small titter, daydreaming about vampiric cows, “Or you could call her “Necky” if that’s easier…”

The invitation to Coran’s estate couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time. It was a rough week at work and Lance was feeling more homesick for Cuba and his uncle’s farm than usual. Back in his college days, it was like visiting a zoo in Varadero for free with a wide variety of chickens, pigs, horses, and even a few wild birds.

POP!

Lance gasped and Ava shrieked. He instinctively stretched his arm across his daughter and steered the car off-road until they were settled into a school parking lot.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded.

As he turned off the engine, he let out a lip-rumbling sigh. The tire was history, that was no secret. The question was: _how_ far gone was it really? He rose from his chair after clicking his seatbelt and climbed out.

“What happened, Papí?”

“Cinderella lost her slipper, so I gotta give her a new one.”

After releasing Ava from her car seat and setting her to the ground, he instructed her not to go wandering off while he gathered the jack and tire from the trunk.

Out with the jack, down on his knees, and he almost forgot to put a towel down because he was definitely not ruining his new jeans.

He wished he didn’t find the humidity stifling this time around. It prickled his skin while he rotated the tire away from the axis. Ava couldn’t help but watch him while he did his work, but something about it was dancing on his nerves a little right now.

“Can I go to the playground?”

“Can’t, sweet pea. That’s for kids who go to this school.”

His eyes met with plums that were more subdued. “Oh. okay.”

And there was just enough trickle of sadness in that baby pitch to subdue herself into a moon phase. She sat on her knees in the grass and started picking blades, twisting them into little ribbons.

He had to admit fifty minutes was a long drive for a little girl, and she was eager to burn some energy. Which is another reason he wanted to hurry up and get to Coran’s already. So, with the tire back on its spoke, now they could continue for another thirty minutes or so.

But she suddenly snapped out of it and her attention magnetized to the sight of something on the side of the stair entrance. 

“PAPÍ!”

Lance’s ears pricked at the shrill scream and he shot up, bumping his head on the trunk and cursing under his breath. He sprinted to her with an alternating alarm of fight, flight, yell blaring in his head.

“What is it?!”

No tears, not even a dramatic windmill of small arms. This girl was _smiling_ wider than a Cheshire Cat, and speaking of cats, he heard baby mewling loud and clear. A crowd of five kittens were in a box where small fingers stroked the fur of one whose fur was gray but appeared blue in the abundant sunshine. yet all of them were ruffled with traces of mud and dirt. Judging by the way they trotted around one another and the fact that they were the size of Lance’s palms, they were only a few weeks old.

“Ava, baby, don’t touch them. They may not have had their shots.”

“What are shots?”

“You know how your Auntie Romelle stuck you with a needle that day so you wouldn’t catch the flu? These kittens have to have shots that keeps them or other humans from getting sick.”

“Where's their mommy?” She asked and reached her hand again before pausing and returning them to her lap.

Come to think of it, where _was_ the mommy? She would have long come and posed a threat to them…Or were these guys just dumped on the side? Why would they be in a box if someone wasn’t taking care of them already?

“Maybe their mommy…”

He put Coran on the phone and asked for his advice.

_“If there’s a mother nearby, their fur will look immaculate. Are they dirty or wet?”_

Lance got an unwelcoming whiff of urine from the box they were in. Very uncertain when the last time was they were fed, if they were fed at all.

_“Wait for a mother to come out.”_

“For how long?”

_“Usually within seven hours…”_

“Coran! I’m not gonna spend that long in no daa- _ang_ parking lot!”

Coran’s tone got more indignant, _“Fine! I just hope you’re able to live with the guilt of snatching kitten babes away from the utter protection and care of their mother…just imagine…”_

“Okay! Okay! I’ll call you in a few hours.”

_“Good luck!”_

Geez, such a drama llama!

Ava was giggling, eyes squinted in amusement. “Drama llama…that’s funny, Papí!”

Lance did a half-squint with a nervous titter. “Don’t you tell him I said that, either!”

“Why not?”

“He’ll feed me to one of the aardvarks as punishment.”

///////

There had to be another way…

With his detective brain, he deduced that because the kittens were indeed disheveled that there was no mother cat taking care of them. And the fact that they had been there in a box was nothing to sneeze at.

But he reluctantly took Coran’s advice and decided to wait for a couple hours until someone showed up. He felt really stupid right now sitting in the car instead of asking around to see if anyone knew of their origins. Ava was getting antsy, playing in the grass and trying to make dandelion crowns. 

The stream of far away traffic and the light chirp of wildlife in the brush on the other side was all Lance absorbed. The air conditioning felt like bliss against his neck and face. He would definitely have to quench his car's tank on the way back. But it was still too stifling out there, even at one in the afternoon. Might’ve been a good day to surf.

He rolled the window down, “Anything?”

Ava shook her head and came to the driver window with an unfinished crown in her hand. “Can I come in now? I'm hot…”

He allowed her to sit in the back where it was roomier. They weren’t going anywhere for a while anyway.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a flower princess crown. Jojo taught me how to make one.”

“Well it looks really beautiful, _princesa_.”

“Thank you! I’m gonna go make you one, too!”

Before she returned to her mission, Lance instructed her to take a grocery bag from the back pocket of the passenger side. Vacuuming that stuff was a nightmare.

Still no sign of Mama Cat.

He wondered how Ryan was doing today. So, he shot him a verbal text asking if they wanted to have a playdate with the girls again next weekend.

 **_Lance:_ ** _We might see some animals today. My friend has a ranch where he adopts all kinds of creatures._

Two minutes later:

 **_Ryan:_ ** _Hope you two have fun :) I can do this weekend in the afternoon._

He almost asked if Jojo liked cats but decided against it because he was still mapping out the logistics of this scenario. He popped a stick of gum in his mouth, using the idle time to make the biggest bubbles possible. His tongue stabbed his large bubble before Ava showed up.

“Papí, are we still going to Uncle Coran’s?”

“In about an hour.”

“How much is an hour?”

“You’d have to play twenty songs.”

“That’s so long!” She wailed with her shoulders slumped and plopped down, now making an angry storm of confetti with grass blades. He really hoped she wasn’t coming back with trails of that strewn over her clothes.

“You’re getting dirty, Ava!” He said in a firm tone that meant “knock it off.”

She apologized and gathered the scraps to put in the bag.

Lance sighed and hopped out the car, closing the door with a careless thump. He peeked at the kittens again, feeling a strange sensation in his gut akin to a wave or shower. It said _just take them._ Nothing to do with the fact that he was getting bored and Ava was getting restless. And if his own spirit wasn’t speaking loudly enough, he swore that he felt the warm press of familiar fingers nudging his shoulders. 

Ava was still in the grass area.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

They finally arrived with a few hours left of the afternoon. And just like last time, Lance could not for the life of him follow that secret handshake between Ava and Coran: a frenzy of claps, slaps and fist-bumps. That was their thing, so he changed his mind about asking for a tutorial.

And with the sheer coincidence of fate, Coran just happened to have an on-site vet available to clean the kittens and provide immunizations, food, and other cat care stuff. And with their grit washed off, Lance swore they looked like colors of the rainbow. He would nickname them " el Arco Iris Five", for their individual furs appearing red, yellow, blue and black. The smallest of the litter had bright orange fur with eyes saturated like emeralds. 

According to the vet, these babies were six weeks old and ready to go home with a human family. That made Ava happier than a dolphin frolicking in the sun. As she was facing the giant Kaltenecker, she sat cross-legged with the freshly-groomed cats and made introductions.”

“You’re Necky! My name’s Ava. Papí said you were huge! You’re as big as a horse! This is Rojo, this is Azul, this is Verde, this is Amarillo, and here's Negro. 

The mammal mooed good-naturedly as Lance met his daughter with the bag of grass she gathered earlier. He pet the cow and cooed with compliments for her, allowing her tongue to snake into his palm. 

“Ahh! Her tongue is so big!” Ava jumped back and cowered into Lance. 

Coran soothed."Not to worry, love. That just means she's been taking her vitamins." 

A cool marine breeze took place of the valley moistness from earlier. And even with the bittersweet aroma of dung and hay dancing in the air, Lance felt homesickness dwindle to a temporary fondness of the present. His daughter delighted from the animals, most of them birds and other four-legged creatures that stood average height. 

Their tour ended with dinner and dessert in the shade of the back patio. They listened to many of Coran's wild stories and parables about an alternate universe that was so vivid he wondered briefly if it really existed. But the funniest part of the day involved Coran treating them to some non-alcoholic-but-still-adult drink that Lance regretted trying: Nunville. It lingered on his tongue like gasoline-injected sweat. Ava insisted on taking one _very tiny_ sip from her father's cup; the harshness on her underdeveloped palette having her flinch like a cat in a static seizure.

As the sun drew her orange curtain, Ava wandered off to strengthen her bond with Kaltenecker. The more playful, childlike Lance peered at the sleeping cat wonders who were now in a basket cushioned with cloths. He fawned, "How precious are these babies?"

Coran whispered, “And the best part?! No legal rigmarole where their custody is concerned. But how _are_ you gonna go about feeding five extra mouths?”

Well, like any other scenario that his five-year-old would toss at him, he'd just have to think on his feet. “I just will.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prize for my Fandom Feedback drawing. Those who comment on my works at the time were entered into a weekly drawing and won if their names were drawn. As of a couple weeks ago, it is on hiatus while I figure out the technical parts :)  
> Stay tuned!
> 
> [My Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/teal_rainbeau/)  
> 


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